We Hold Hands!
by SandM1827
Summary: "Date with Derek tonight?" "What? No, we're just going out to dinner." He scoffed at the insinuation. "It's not a date." "As opposed to all the other times you've been out to dinner, when it was?" His Dad questioned.


Stiles was still buttoning up his shirt as he walked downstairs. He could hear his father moving around in the kitchen. They didn't live together anymore. Technically this was his house now. His dad lived with Melissa McCall. They did carpool to and from work together though, on a good day, his dad came in for a cup of coffee and once a week he stayed for dinner. Today was coffee night, because Stiles already had plans.

"Alright, I'm headed out." Stiles announced to his father as he made his way into the kitchen.

"Date with Derek tonight?"

"What? No, we're just going out to dinner." He scoffed at the insinuation. "It's not a date."

"As opposed to all the other times you've been out to dinner, when it was?" His Dad questioned.

"Derek and I have never been on a date." Not even once. "It's just dinner."

"Okay. You're dressed nice tonight." His father pointed out the nice slacks and crisp button down shirt. "Where are you two going tonight?"

"That new Italian place on Main." It had opened up the month before and he swears Derek's mouth waters every time they drive passed it.

"Fancy."

"Not any fancier than the places we normally go." The usually ate somewhere nice, but nothing _too_ nice. "I gotta go pick up Derek or we'll miss our reservation."

"Taking Derek to a restaurant that requires a reservation and you're sure it's not a date?"

"Yeah I'm sure." Seriously, him and Derek Hale on a date?

He and Derek got along a lot better now than they had been through most of his high school career. He's pretty sure it changed the most after Derek walked in on Kate Argent putting a gun to his head, during the Dead Pool fiasco. Derek had fought with her, while Stiles had gotten a hold of her gun and put a bullet between her eyes. They had bonded over dismantling her body and making sure she would not rise from her grave again.

* * *

He and Derek had been seated at their table for a few minutes when Stiles took noticed to a few things. He noticed the candles on the table and the low lighting. He noticed the taste of the wine Derek had ordered. He saw that most of the other people in the restaurant were couples. Couples who were dressed nicely and sitting at tables with low lighting and drinking wine –

"Oh my god." Stiles looked up at Derek from his menu. "We're on a date."

"No we're not." Derek replied without even taking his eyes off the food choices.

"Yes we are. We go out to dinner together at least once a week." He pointed out. "We're dating."

"Sharing a meal together doesn't mean we're dating." The older man assured him. "You go out to eat with Lydia every Saturday, are you dating her?"

"Lydia and I have lunch at the crappy diner on Pine. We gossip and complain about pack bullshit for an hour and go our separate ways." Sometimes Kira and Malia joined them, once even Melissa came. "You and I go to upscale restaurants that require reservations. We even go to the movies sometimes. Last week we had a picnic at the park by the lake."

"It's not that uncommon to share a meal or hang out with a casual sex partner." Which was a good point. He and Derek had been in a friends-with-benefits situation, since the summer before his freshman year at college.

"Usually we go back to the loft and have sex. Sometimes we don't. Sometimes we just kiss. Sometimes we only _cuddle_!" They both enjoyed the cuddling; neither of them could ever deny it. "You drove to Berkeley every weekend to see me."

"You're a good lay?" Derek offered weakly, as if that explained the constant trips while Stiles was away at college.

"You camped out in my dorm during finals to make sure I ate and slept. There was no sex involved!" He'd been more than a little surprised when Derek showed up the first time. Then every year, like clock-work, Derek would show up during finals to force food down Stiles throat and make sure he got at least five hours of sleep. "Derek, we are monogamous. We hold hands and everything!"

"No, we don't." The wolf actually looked offended at the assumption.

"You're holding my hand right now!" He gestured to where his hand sat on the table with Derek's covering it.

"Oh." Derek replied blankly but made no move to remove the offending appendage.

"We are dating." He repeated matter-of-factly.

"Since when?" Derek asked with a growl, while looking genuinely confused.

"Well, I don't know." The information was just as new to him as it was to Derek. "Sometimes between the first round of _Oh My God We Survived/Oh My God I Hate You So Much For Almost Dying _sex and now."

"Huh." Derek replied before looking back at his menu.

* * *

"So, Derek and I are dating." Stiles told his Dad as he climbed in the passenger side of the cruiser the next morning.

"You don't say?" His father replied sarcastically.

"It kind of bugs me that you knew before I did."

"Son, I'm pretty sure the only people in this town who didn't know you and Derek were dating, were you and Derek."


End file.
